Partnership for the Outback has welcomed the announcement by the State Government today to approve carbon farming in the WA Outback.

The milestone decision will mean farmers and land managers in the pastoral zone of WA will be able to earn carbon credits by storing carbon in vegetation and soil, reducing carbon pollution.

The initiative will provide millions of dollars of new income to pastoralists and other leaseholders and rejuvenate over-grazed lands.

Pew Charitable Trusts Western Australian manager Tim Nicol said the decision to allow carbon farming operations to proceed was a win for landholders in the WA Outback and a win for the environment.

Mr Nicol said the decision would allow pastoralists with provisional registered contracts signed under the Federal Government’s Climate Solution Fund to proceed with carbon farming.

“Over 40 existing provisional farming contracts on pastoral leaseholds in Western Australia will now be able to begin producing benefit for both people and nature,” he said.

“These current registered projects covering around 9 million hectares have the potential to bring more than $600 million of revenue to WA over 25 years, sequestering around 30 million tonnes of carbon in the process.”

Mr Nicol said the move would help pastoralists in areas that need restoration.

“This new carbon farming industry will be especially valuable for the southern pastoral leaseholders in the Murchison, Gascoyne and Goldfields region, where there are large areas of degraded land and where landholders can receive funding for regenerating their lands,” he said.

“The Australian Outback is one of the last great natural landscapes in the world. Carbon farming will help to breathe life back into parts of the Outback through new opportunities.”